Even the hard-hitting Hawaii Five-O crime-fighters find themselves caught up in the throes of wedding joys in this week’s “A la la aku,” meaning “From This Day Forward” but the couple in question doesn’t make it to the altar, and Danny (Scott Caan) and Steve (Alex O’Loughlin) have very different views on the basics of marriage. Danny has to make a choice between the love that changed his life, and the love of his life.
The story opens on a Hong Kong back alley, with Kono (Grace Park) and Adam (Ian Anthony Dale) forcibly removing a captive (James Adam Lim) from the trunk of their vehicle before taking him in for some pretty brutal interrogation tactics. At first, he tries pinning his plots to Adam’s brother Michael, but Adam refutes, saying he knows all those associates. It’s finally revealed that Kono is as much of a target as Adam. A call to her cousin Chin (Daniel Dae Kim) conveys the advice to get out of Asia quickly, and an admonishment to Adam to remember his sacred vow to protect Kono. Scene switch to a frantic bride on the run, driving recklessly until a crash with a semi, followed by a call for help to a stopping passerby, who instead, only uses his foot to ensure the car plunges all the way down an embankment. Flashbacks turned back to wedding smiles and toasts, but fear takes over, as the bride cannot finish her walk down the aisle following a fearful glance. Steve and Danny take their ladies, Catherine and Gabby (Michelle Borth and Autumn Reeser) on a double date, but the guys spend more time whispering sweet nothings to each other than to their ladies, predicting movie plot lines. Danny gets to work on the case, prognosticating all the woes of weddings that can provoke criminal behavior, especially with a dead wedding guest lying shot in his room. He first is dubbed Fitzpatrick, but later revealed to be Brad Dixon, who sister turns out to be the runaway bride, Dahlia Swain (Briana Lane). With all Danny’s negativity, Steve retorts, “and you wonder why you’re divorced.” Marital matters go further south, when the groom’s mom, Mrs. Cotchin, (Rebecca De Mornay, faces questions, insisting she never knew Dixon, but did investigate their daughter-in-law to be, to her son’s disbelief. Grace (Teilor Grubbs) is having a great time with Gabby, making pancakes that far surpass her dad’s, and planning a girl’s day together, while Steve is giving Danny some driver’s seat diagnosis over his wedding issues. They question Ty (Lawrence Kab) who is an easy trace to the weapon, but knows nothing of the murder or the marital strife.
Dahlia and brother, Brad are uncovered as operators of a wedding scam string of luring wealthy grooms for the taking. Danny finally reveals that his feelings of doubt are derived from Gabby’s new job offer has a curator in Denver. Steve relates his recent situation with Catherine working for Billy (Justin Bruening) and how he allowed his trust of her to prevail, and encourage her in accepting the job. Just at that moment, none other than Billy turns up headquarters, practicing surveillance with Catherine, speaking cute codes into her ear. She reminds Steve of all the times she’s “repositioned satellites” under Naval intelligence, to help him out, as she asks to use the “5-O” databases.
Chin finds the bride’s vehicle on a motorcycle search, and remarkably, saves her life by calling for a helicopter rescue. Her life saved, but her love built on a lie seems doomed, especially after her groom, Nathan (Alex Asbaugh), pays a painful visit of farewell. Mrs. Cotchin demands to see the background check on Dahlia, but instead gets a gun pointed at her head. Danny and Steve find the connection of her attorney to the weapon just-in-time to intervene, and save her life. He was the perpetrator all along, saying “What else is there?” when asked if money was the only motivator for marriage. Steve has a heart-to-heart with the perplexed Nathan, describing how Dahlia turned herself in when she did not have to, and had been the victim of her brother from her youth, following the loss of their parents. Nathan returns to the hospital, this time, bearing a bouquet and a new proposal of marriage, that includes an immediate bedside ceremony and blessing by the chaplain and the dynamic duo of Danny and Steve.
Danny comes home to find Gabby, who says she “just wants to make us happy,” while Danny says he cannot be the guy who takes her career away, noting that there will always be another job offer. Gabby insists they can “make it work” long-distance, but Danny says he cannot “keep taking away” another special relationship from his daughter. With emotional gulps, they clutch hands and embrace with a kiss. Danny tells her that she gave him a reason to love Hawaii, and the reason to believe in love again. She tells him that she knows Hawaii is “home” for him now, and that perhaps it will be “one day for me, too!” Billy drives Catherine home from her first day in her new job, and she finds Steve waiting up. She tells him her day was busy, and her new life feels like a “big change.” She goes to change, and Billy waves goodbye, leaving Steve with a puzzled look and probably more puzzling questions.
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